A couple of days ago this guy past me by on his bike and he had five bottles with him,three on his frame and two at the back of his seat.is this a record?

Hey, the man was thirsty.

It just occured to me he might have been diabetic.

Or just out to hydrate properly without stopping.

Sound like the jilted ex-astronaut who wore a diaper on her way from TX to FL so she doesn't have to stop, and begged the question.... wow, what kinda of futuristic, secret to public, high-mileage car was she driving!

I'm one of those guys with a plastic milk crate on his rack.
Thing is tho, my crate is the kind meant for holding round glass bottles (not paper cartons) and actually has 'cupholders' moulded in the bottom.
I suppose if I wanted to be ridiculous I could actually fill the thing with water bottles.... that would be 18 plus the holder on the frame?

Not everybody has a SAG wagon to carry their fluids for them.

With the weather being far cooler in Sydney than it is where I live, I think this guy wanted to make sure he had all of the liquid refreshment he would need for his journey. I carry a single Polar 24oz. insulated water bottle on my bike. If I had 5 on my bike, 4 of them would become hot, steamy and undrinkable with the summer heat here. I make my stops at quick shops and fork over $2 for a sports drink after I have emptied my water bottle.

Can't resist the old chestnut

No, it's not a record - they are flat circular discs with a hole in the middle used for reproducing music/sound

He could put another on the handle bars...I've got a cage hanging off the front

There's a little deal thing you can get for one of the TT aero-style handlebars, that stores a couple more upright near the stem.

This isn't what I'm thinking of (I remember one that held two regular round bottles) but it's similar:
https://www.profile-design.com/produc...tion/aquacell/

So you could get seven bottles on, that way....
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i can see three on the frame... but two on the seat? what'd he have, a holder or something bolted to the rails of the saddle that held water bottles off the back?

surprised the guy doesn't just carry a 3L camelbak on him! then again, i find 'em uncomfortable for rides over 50km.

Now that I look, Profile sells dual-bottle brackets that fit on the seat rails, as well as brackets that fit on the seat post.... so that would be,, ehh,,, 3 frame, two stem, two seat, and two on the seatpost.
Nine bottles.
Assuming you can use both the seat and seatpost brackets at the same time.

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As to "why not just use a bladder", I understand that many competitive riders prefer bottles, so they can keep track of how much they are drinking at any point in time.

Also with bottles, some can be energy mix and others plain water.
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That's just getting started. You can get 5 or 6 more in the jersey:

i find my cbak puts a lot of stress on my shoulders (gotta support the high weight). if i drop the bag down low so it hang 'round my waist my lower back starts to hurt. it's also really hot! i don't notice the fatigue issues, though, unless i'm riding for longer than an hour.

i understand why you'd use bottles. takes the weight off the rider.

If he used the 1.75 liter bottles instead of fifths he wouldn't have to carry so many...

Nope ... not a record. Go check the touring forum and start counting bottles.

I've carried five before, but I used a rack and trunk for three of them. This was on a really hot day, lots of climbing, alone, and in an area where I didn't know if I would pass a store or not (in fact, I didn't). So what's the big deal? If you're going to need it, and you can't buy them on the go, bring them with you.

I kind of wish my current bike had a set of braze-ons under the down tube. My old hybrid did. Then at least I could carry three with regular bottle cages.

Lately I've just been taking routes where I know I can pick up another bottle at a shop along the way if I need it.

By the way, the first part of your original post speaks volumes: ...a guy passed me...

You never saw him again, right? He was faster, and didn't have to stop for refills either.

I read a book once by a man who biked around Australia, and he came up with some pretty creative ways to carry water -- he was riding long distances in scarily hot weather with nowhere to refuel. I think on the hottest days he ended up with nine or ten large bottles, and drank all of them.

When mountain biking, I have a camelbak and two water bottles. I drink from the camelbak and use the water bottles to remove the mud from my gears.

i just suck from the cbak and spit it out at the gears/fork pistons to clean 'em off.

Oh ya? Well I just piss on my bike to clean it off. How do ya like dem apples?!

to each his own.

i just won't ride the muddy trails with you: that's all.

So what kind of bike?

I'm hopeing he had some 15 pound wonder bike festooned with $50 carbon water bottle holders.